291 CCTV cameras to keep an eye on Guwahati

The Assam government has started the process of installing close-circuit television cameras at strategic locations in Guwahati where insurgents have triggered blasts on many occasions in the past.

The process of setting up of 291 two mega pixel CCTV cameras in 91 locations in the city has been started under the direct supervision of Inspector General of Police (Central and Western Range) G P Singh.

Senior police officials said that all these CCTV cameras will be installed within three months. The CCTV cameras will be monitored from a special control room set up by the city police.

Close circuit cameras have been installed near the state capital complex, busy Ganeshguri flyover point and Ulubari flyover point in the first phase.

The CCTV cameras are being installed as per recommendation of a security review committee headed by former DGP of state police D N Dutta.

The committee, which was constituted by the state government after the devastating serial blasts on October 30, 2008,

in its report submitted to the government recommended for installation of CCTV cameras and setting up of a police commissionerate in the city to add more teeth to the police force.

The 2008 blasts had killed 90 people and injured over 400. Three of the blasts were triggered in the heart of Guwahati city while two others at Kokrajhar, Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon.

One of the blast occurred with devastating impact under the Ganeshguri flyover near the state secretariat complex. The unprecedented blasts had left city police in jitters. The serial blasts were triggered by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) led by its leader Ranjan Daimary.

Guwahati was also target of terrorists in earlier occasions too. Bodo tribe militants had triggered blasts on two occasions in the past at the Guwahati railway station and in busy Paltan Bazar area in the city.